Tite Admits that Douglas Costa Will Almost Certainly Go to World Cup

Brazil boss Tite admits that Douglas Costa has advanced his case for inclusion in Brazil’s World Cup squad this summer. The Juve winger was once a regular pick, but lost his place in 2017 due to injury and loss of form.

He has since left Bayern Munich for Juventus and Tite admits that his familiarity with a new league has strengthened his case for inclusion. Costa started the 3-0 victory over Russia and was a second half substitute against Germany.

“I have personally monitored Douglas and for three months he has won his place at Juventus. We understood that it was a process of adaptation to Italian football, it was difficult, but he has proved very good value for Juventus.

“He can play right, left, sometimes inside. Football in Italy has a lot of tactical variation and it helps us, he gives that to us.” The player himself was delighted with Tuesday night’s victory over Germany.

“We put everything we practiced in the week into action, with everyone helping each other. Paulinho helping Dani Alves, for example. We had tough times, but the team reacted very well.”